They speak of a pattern of persecution of religious minorities throughout the country that includes the demolition of churches and the arrest and detention of church leaders.

They argue that if this is how the Sudanese regime acts during a period of intense scrutiny “as the Bashir regime is engaged in a full-court press to lift long-standing US sanctions..(w)e can only imagine what the Khartoum regime will do if it gets its way on the sanctions and the USA loses its most significant point of leverage.”

In the article, they urge US officials to remember that “when the spotlight is off, as the people of Darfur and South Sudan know all too well, the prospects for those whom the Sudan government has in its crosshairs is bleak.”